SURAKARTA, Indonesia. – National para swimming coach Tony Ong believes that Asian Youth Para Games standouts Ariel Joseph Alegarbes and Angel Otom will play key roles in the country’s bid in the 11th Asean Para Games swimfest starting Aug. 1 at the Jatidiri Sports Complex pool in Semarang.
“With the help of Alegarbes and Otom, we might just surpass our previous tally of three gold, three silver and five bronzes in the Asean Para Games in Malaysia in 2017,” noted Ong of the two national team rookies.
Alegarbes, 18, won the lone gold medal for the national team in the Asian 4th Asian Youth Para Games in Manama, Bahrain last December, ruling the boys S14 multiclass 17-18-year-old 100-meter butterfly event in one minute and 1.96 seconds.
Oton, 19, copped the bronze medal in the girls S1-10 100-meter butterfly event in the Bahrain meet.
A UP Diliman architecture student, Oton will see action in the women’s 50-meter backstroke and butterfly events and 100-meter freestyle while Alegarbes will swim in the men’s 50 -meter freestyle and butterfly events and 100-meter backstroke.
Former national swimmer and two-time Olympic veteran Ral Rosario, who is Ong’s deputy, said the success of the two young swimmers “will all depend on how hungry they are and how they will react to a big meet like this.”
Ong also cited Tokyo Paralympic Games veterans Ernie Gawilan and Gary Bejino, who garnered two and one gold medal, respectively, in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur five years ago.
Gawilan, who garnered three golds and two silvers in the 2018 Asian Para Games in Jakarta, Indonesia, will plunge into action in the men’s S7 400-meter freestyle, 200-meter individual medley, 100-meter backstroke and the 4×100-meter freestyle and medley relays.
Bejino, who won a gold in the 2017 edition of the meet, will compete in the men’s 50, 100 and 400-meter freestyle events, and hopes to sweep all three events.
